When the first span of the Interstate 95 replacement bridge over the Delaware River at Scudder Falls is opened, hopefully by 2019, it is proposed to cost $1.25 for passenger vehicles with E-Z Pass to cross in the southbound direction.
The cost can be reduced to 75 cents for commuters who make at least 16 tolled trips per month using a commission-affiliated E-ZPass tag. Vehicles without E-Z Pass will have a photo taken of their license plate and a charge of $2.60 mailed to the owner. There will be no cash lane on the bridge.
Tolls will be charged in the southbound direction via an all-electronic toll collection system of E-Z Pass tag readers and high-resolution cameras.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission has a schedule of six meetings to hear public comment on the toll schedule. A vote is expected in September.
The most imminent and closest hearing is Tuesday, July 19, at West Trenton Volunteer Fire House, 40 Upper Ferry Road, West Trenton. The next closest is Thursday, July 21, at William Penn Middle School, 1524 Derbyshire Road, Yardley, Pa. In both instances, the informational open house begins at 4:30 p.m., with the toll hearing at 6 p.m.
“The Commission directed staff to tamp down the toll rates for this new bridge as much as possible,” said Joseph J. Resta, the commission’s executive director. “The $1.25 base E-Z Pass toll and 75-cent E-Z Pass commuter-discount toll are in keeping with this goal, especially given the scope and complexity of the upcoming bridge replacement project.”
The commission also seeks to two narrowly defined changes in its current toll structure for the agency’s seven existing toll bridges. One of these adjustments would affect E-Z Pass and cash tolls paid by drivers of two-axle vehicles that are less than eight feet high with more than four wheels; the preponderance of these vehicles would be pickup trucks with dual-wheel rear axles, often referred to as “dualies.”
The other proposed change clarifies what the cash toll rate should be for recreational vehicles with a trailer or vehicle in tow.
The two changes in the toll structure would expected to take effect by February 2017 after the commission completes the installation, testing, calibration and activation of a next-generation collections system.
Other toll schedule hearings are Aug. 2 at the Holiday Inn Express in Easton, Pa.; Aug. 4 at the Early Childhood Learning Center, Phillipsburg; Aug. 9 at the High Point Golf Club, Montague, and Aug. 11 at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University Innovation Center.
Comment on proposed toll changes can be made until Aug. 29 by e-mail ([email protected]), the commission website (the “contact us” portal at www.drjtbc.org) or U.S. mail to Director of Community Affairs Jodee Inscho, DRJTBC Executive Offices, 2492 River Road, New Hope, Pa. 18938.
The Scudder Falls Bridge replacement project involves a heavily commuted 4.4-mile portion of I-95 extending from the Route 332/Yardley-Newtown Road exit in Bucks County, Pa., and the Bear Tavern Road/Route 579 exit in Mercer County.
The existing bridge was designed and constructed in the late 1950s and was opened in June 1961. The bridge carried 1,583,595 vehicles during its first full year of service in 1962; in 2015, it carried 21,594,797 vehicles, or a daily average of 59,200 crossings — the second highest volume among the commission’s 18 vehicular bridges.
The project will first build a new span upstream of the existing bridge, with two lanes in each direction. The 55-year-old bridge will them be demolished and a new bridge built on the same footprint. When the project is fully complete by 2020 or 2012, there will be to spans carrying six lanes of through traffic (three in each direction), and three auxiliary lanes (two northbound, one southbound) for traffic merging on and off the bridge.
Among other elements, the project will also overhaul the accident-prone Route 29/175 interchange on the New Jersey side.
